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4 Refreshing Watermelon Juice Recipes (Don’t Throw Away That Rind!)

Watermelon juice has a delightful cooling property and watermelon’s water content is refreshing during hot summer days.

I love to just devour chilled watermelon pieces, but I hate to discard those rinds that still have lots of juicy and nutrient-rich liquid in them.

I feel it’s such a waste…

Well, I discovered that I can eat the deliciously juicy pulp of the watermelon and use the rind too! I simply juice it, instead of throwing it away!

Why Juice Watermelon Rind?

So why watermelon rind? Believe it or not, the most nutritious part of the watermelon is its rind. This is not to say that the red flesh has no nutrients, it just that the rind contains more. It is safe to eat and juice. If you’re a little iffy, start out with one or two rinds in your green juice along with the red flesh.

According to some sources, up to 95% of the nutritional content is in the watermelon rind. It contains chlorophyll, vitamin A, protein, potassium, zinc, iodine, nucleic acids and enzymes which aid digestion. It is also a great source for the amino acid citrulline. Citrulline promotes energy and is a natural immune booster. Citrulline is also an effective liver detoxifier (aids in the removal of harmful toxins in the liver).

Our body uses citrulline to make arginine (amino acid) to also make nitric oxide, which helps relax blood vessels and lowers high blood pressure. This same amino acid as been shown to improve insulin sensitivity in obese diabetics (type II). More reason to include watermelon rind in your green juices. Watermelon rind is great for diabetics because it does not contain a lot of sugar as the red flesh of the melon.

Watermelon Juice Recipes

The juice of watermelon rind is not as sweet as the pulp juice. In fact, it tastes a bit similar to cucumber water. It makes a great addition to a green juice or smoothie!

If you don’t enjoy watermelon rind juice because it doesn’t taste as good as the flesh, then add other fruits to the juice or blend the juice with other fruits into a smoothie.

Here are some delicious and healthy ways to use watermelon with or without rind:

Watermelon-Grape Delight

Option: To create delicious slush, juice the rind with the grapes, then blend the juice you just made with watermelon pulp (if using seedless watermelon) and ice.

Watermelon-Ginger

Another refreshing combination is with ginger-lemon.

1/2 watermelon, coarsely chopped

1/4 inch ginger root

1/2 lemon

Process through your juicer, chill or add a few ice cubes, and enjoy! Add a few mint leaves for garnish.

Watermelon-Apple

1/2 watermelon, coarsely chopped

2-3 apples

1/2 lemon

Process through your juicer, chill or add a few ice cubes, and enjoy!

Note: If juicing with the rind, I recommend buying organically grown watermelon. Otherwise, you may want to trim off the thin layer of green skin.

Because watermelon is a great diuretic, your kidneys and bladder will be rejuvenated. You can add just about any fruit or vegetable to watermelon juice, so experiment and have some fun. This is a great weight loss juicing recipe.

You may use watermelon with seeds or seedless variety. The seeds may be a little noisy but are harmless to the juicer.

A cold slice of watermelon has long been a Fourth of July holiday staple. But according to recent studies, the juicy fruit may be better suited for Valentine’s Day. That’s because scientists say watermelon has ingredients that deliver Viagra-like effects to the body’s blood vessels and may even increase libido. Read more about the nutritional benefits of watermelonhere.

*Make it a habit to select fruits with seeds, all seedless fruit are genetically modified / engineered. Fruits in their natural states contain much more minerals and vitamins. Studies have shown that genetically modified and engineered foods can cause long term sterility and infertility.(via GreenJuiceaDay)